Difficult conversations....

As a disabled woman of color, immigrant to the USA and daughter of two immigrants to Canada, I am delighted to learn that some courageous white people are taking up the challenge of examining white privilege.

I have found it extremely valuable when people who identify as white meet together to discuss the effects of racism upon us.

Image description: a translucent glass fish is trapped head down in a rectangular glass of water. Small bubbles emerge from the fish upwards.

Here's how I think of it sometimes:
Racism is the water in which everyone swims (at least from my own experience in Canada and the USA). White people happen to have gills (white privilege) so it's no problem for them. They don't even notice they are breathing underwater. Being able to live without struggling against racism is as natural as drawing breath.

For POC (people of color), it's like we can barely breathe and we have to find bubbles of oxygen wherever we can, or spend valuable energy swimming up to the surface (think safer spaces, which are often POC only spaces) where we strain to catch a breath and then try to make it last while we dive back down into White world and attempt to function underwater.

For my beloved white friends, here is a quiz that might generate some interesting self-reflection and discussion.  It's helpful for someone just starting to become curious about the idea of privilege, or being a member of the dominant group (which is NOT the same as simply being in the numerical majority)...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you#.dxwy0LPRk

If you enjoyed that quiz, Peggy McIntosh's classic 1988 article offers a longer explanation and a more complete quiz here.